June 2015 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

VP2MKV 2012Z PASS
by Jim White 18 Jun '15

18 Jun '15

Worked the following: KE8AKW WA4SCA K4FEG W0DHB N0LM K0MDJ (MPJ?), can't ready my scribble AJ9K Thanks to everyone who worked us. This was our last pass of the expedition. We will scramble to take down and pack up antennas in the morning and must have the crate sealed by noon - with the Arrow inside. In the afternoon and evening we will operate HF with equipment that stays here at Gingerbread Hill, then leave very early Saturday. 73, Jim VP2MJW (WD0E) operating VP2MKV(HF and sat) and VP2MTT (6 meters - where we have am amazing 502 contacts)

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N8RO/P Operations
by Ronald Oldham 18 Jun '15

18 Jun '15

I will be on a road trip during the period June 22 – July 4 2015. I plan to operate portable from EM50, EM84, EM99, FN13, FM28, FM04, EL79, EL49 and possibly other grids along the way. I will operate on SO-50 and FO-29. I hope to contact many of you during the trip. 73, Ron – N8RO

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NO-84 PSK31 on Field Day
by Paul Stoetzer 18 Jun '15

18 Jun '15

Is anyone planning on including the NO-84 PSK31 transponder in their Field Day satellite station plans? It may be tough since the terrestrial PSK31 segment will be filled with terrestrial signals and it might be tough to pick out satellite signals, but maybe night time passes when 10m is closed will work well. 73, Paul, N8HM

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VP2MKV 1826Z pass
by Jim White 18 Jun '15

18 Jun '15

Thanks to K8YSE for letting me know I was making it.... no others on the pass. Next pass should be lots of US in the footprint. This will be our last pass of the expedition. Jim

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BRICSAT Status ??
by KO6TZ Bob 18 Jun '15

18 Jun '15

Since SatPC32 started speaking German a few days ago, I take it that Light Sail has reentered. So I have been listening for BricSAT NO-83, but I do not hear, see or display any type of data. I have been monitoring 437.975 MHz FM for 9K6 Packet. Is it supposed to be repeating 1K2 data from the uplink of 145.825FM as well as telemetry ??? It should be able to hear NO-84 quit well as a source. Or is the feature not turned on ? With the two satellites in view of each other, the PSK-31 transponder would pose a conflict. I would not expect that transponder to be on. KO6TZ Bob

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Re: [amsat-bb] SatPC32 Question on the Amsat bb
by Paul - K6HR 18 Jun '15

18 Jun '15

Thanks to all who replied. I found the file 'CountDownPos.SQF' after replacing it with a default copy of the file, the CountDown window has returned! Now if I just knew what happened I might know what to avoid. The 'bad' file looked like this: 243 3924 + 5 - - -10 _____ From: Paul - K6HR [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 9:17 PM To: 'nx9b(a)comcast.net' Cc: 'amsat-bb(a)amsat.org' Subject: RE: SatPC32 Question on the Amsat bb Hi Jeff, Thanks for the reply. The 'countdown' window does not open when chosen from the ACCY menu and does not appear anywhere on the desktop. _____ From: nx9b(a)comcast.net [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 8:32 PM To: paul.hamradio(a)verizon.net Subject: SatPC32 Question on the Amsat bb Hi, Paul, This is Jeff, NX9B. I saw your question about the countdown window in SatPC and thought I would try to help you out. Start SatPC On the Accy pulldown, pick countdown Once the count down window is there, check the "open window at program start" box. PICK 'STORE' IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER Close SatPC and restart the program. The countdown window should now show up when you start the program. Let me know if this did not help... 73 de Jeff, NX9B

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Re: [amsat-bb] SatPC32 Question on the Amsat bb
by Paul - K6HR 18 Jun '15

18 Jun '15

Hi Jeff, Thanks for the reply. The 'countdown' window does not open when chosen from the ACCY menu and does not appear anywhere on the desktop. _____ From: nx9b(a)comcast.net [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 8:32 PM To: paul.hamradio(a)verizon.net Subject: SatPC32 Question on the Amsat bb Hi, Paul, This is Jeff, NX9B. I saw your question about the countdown window in SatPC and thought I would try to help you out. Start SatPC On the Accy pulldown, pick countdown Once the count down window is there, check the "open window at program start" box. PICK 'STORE' IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER Close SatPC and restart the program. The countdown window should now show up when you start the program. Let me know if this did not help... 73 de Jeff, NX9B

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Re: [amsat-bb] EO-80 FM Transponder Tested (noise floor?)
by Robert Bruninga 18 Jun '15

18 Jun '15

I also am a proponent ot using 2m for weak downlinks because of the 9 dB advantage. But it has been pointed out to me that there is a higher background noise component that needs to be considered. I have not done this. My assumption is that the noise floor at 2m is maybe about 3 dB worse than at 70cm? So 2m still wins, but I'm not sure of what the real noise floor is. Bob, WB4aPR -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Zach Leffke Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 11:23 AM To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] EO-80 FM Transponder Tested Paul beat me to the punch as I was typing up my response, but I'm sending it anyway: Path Loss. -> function of lambda (wavelength) squared. So all other things being equal (antenna gains, power levels, range, etc.), you can look at the power ratio of the two. Rough calculation (going from 2m to 70cm): 10log[(0.70/2)^2] = -9.1 dB OR Rough calculation (going from 70cm to 2m): 10log[(2/0.7)^2] = +9.1 dB The thing to watch out for is antenna gains on the ground. The arrow for example has more gain on 70cm (7el) than it does on 2m (3el). So while 2m has a 9-ish dB improvement over 70cm in terms of path loss, the receiver may not see the full 9dB because of the difference in gains on the antenna between the two bands. Again VERY rough approximation (for demonstration purposes only): 3el yagi -> call it 7.5 ish dB of gain 7el yagi -> call it 11.5 ish dB of gain so, about 4 dB of LOST gain (going from 70cm to 2m using the arrow example). So net gain going from 70cm to 2m (all other things equal except the gains on the arrow antenna) 9dB - 4dB = 5dB so your typo was actually fairly close :-) for those planning to use their existing setup for the new birds. -Zach, KJ4QLP On 6/17/2015 10:43 AM, Andrew Koenig wrote: > *9dB (typo) > > On Wed, Jun 17, 2015 at 9:42 AM, Andrew Koenig <ke5gdb(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> Can you explain the 6dB advantage 2m has over 70cm? I've seen it here >> on the amsat-bb, and in the mesh realm when comparing 2.4GHz and >> 5.8GHz WiFi gear, but it still hasn't "clicked." >> >> 73 de KE5GDB >> >> On Tue, Jun 16, 2015 at 6:56 PM, Paul Stoetzer <n8hm(a)arrl.net> wrote: >> >>> Nick, >>> >>> It should be even stronger than AO-27's 500 mW, AO-27 had a 70cm >>> downlink, the EO-80 downlink is on 2 meters, so EO-80's signal >>> should be up to 9 dB stronger than AO-27 (12 dB stronger if they run >>> it at 1 watt). >>> >>> 73, >>> >>> Paul, N8HM >>> >>> On Tue, Jun 16, 2015 at 7:49 PM, Nicholas Mahr >>> <nicholasmahr1(a)gmail.com> >>> wrote: >>>> Thats very good news, Hopefully the two get activated before field day? >>> Im >>>> most looking forward to EO-80, It should be like AO-27 with 500Mw or 1W. >>>> Good to know both are working well and wish a long life to them. >>>> >>>> 73 KE8AKW >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum >>>> available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >>> Opinions expressed >>>> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official >>>> views >>> of AMSAT-NA. >>>> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite >>> program! >>>> Subscription settings: >>>> http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum >>> available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >>> Opinions expressed >>> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official >>> views of AMSAT-NA. >>> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >>> Subscription settings: >>> http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >>> >> >> >> -- >> Andrew Koenig >> > > _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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SatPC32
by Nicholas Mahr 18 Jun '15

18 Jun '15

Hello Everyone, I had a few questions on SatPC32.. We used to use Nova For Windows for a long time, but havent used it for many years now... When I load up nova for windows it just has whole bunch of errors, making it unusable, I have even tried downloading the demo from the website but that dont work either, So for many years I have looked for a new 3D program. Im currently using Orbitron, its ok. But I stumbled across SatPC32, First off I saw you can buy this for a discount at the AMSAT store if your a member, which I am. Secondly, can you rotate the globe in 3D view, thats the main selling point on this program for me rather than a flat map, and do you recommend this program? Do alot of people out there use this? And if I can somehow magically fix nova for windows I would use it.. It looks like they dont even really support it anymore, the NLSA website is in ruins basically. But just thought i would ask about this program before buying. 73 KE8AKW

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VP2MKV 2106 pass -- TKS
by Bob Mattaliano 18 Jun '15

18 Jun '15

Hi Jim, Sorry, not a distance record. We moved back to the East Coast in '93. To refresh your memory, FN41 includes our Bristol RI QTH. I worked you at 8 degrees; very fortunately for me while pointing westward as the bird was over the central US. I have a pretty clear shot in that direction. Due south would have required more elevation due to a hill, and it was a pretty narrow window for me during the pass. So, THANKS for being there! Much appreciate all of your efforts. 73, Bob N6RFM in FN41iq

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